AURORA | Aurora city government is still leasing a hotel mainly for homeless people with COVID-19, but officials say the city worked out an agreement to lease fewer rooms and pay less for the undisclosed hotel.
Shelley McKittrick, the City of Aurora homelessness program coordinator, said an agreement was reached with the 122-room hotel to allow renting only half of the site’s rooms in June while owners renovates the other half.
It’s a deal McKittrick said will allow the hotel operation — dubbed the Aurora Emergency Respite Center — to keep serving individuals and families with nowhere else to quarantine or avoid the virus, while reducing the cost for taxpayers.
Officials would not disclose the name of the hotel. The Sentinel learned through a records request the hotel is a Quality Inn located at 1011 S. Abilene St.
McKittrick said June 12 between 30 and 50 rooms have been occupied on a given day since the hotel opened in April.
The occupants have largely been discharged from area hospitals after fighting the novel coronavirus and were given a hotel room as a safe place to quarantine without infecting others. Residents are protected by security, given food and have access to health and mental health resources.
To date, the City of Aurora has footed the bill with its own emergency funding, McKittrick said. Each hotel room costs $70 each, plus about $30 on average for staffing and security costs.
In April and May, the hotel operation cost $361,500 per month. For June, the total cost is $201,000. That brings to the total spent so far to $924,000.
Area counties have contributed dollars, but McKittrick said the bulk of the hotel operation bill will be paid off with federal money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, CARES Act and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“It’s not impacting the bottom line in the city,” she said.
McKittrick said she didn’t want to “stigmatize” the hotel by revealing its location and possibly cost its owners business down the road. She’s also thinks it’s possible residents could be harassed.
Denver’s facility at the Western National Complex for people affected by homelessness and the pandemic is widely publicized.
But months after announcing the city would convert a hotel into a quarantine space for homeless people, McKittrick said the operation has been a success.
“Basically, it is going incredibly smoothly,” she said.
Occupants have included elderly residents who do not have COVID-19 but would risk death at area homeless shelters, which can be crowded. Age is itself a risk factor for the novel coronavirus.
Individuals from the Adams County jail are also staying in the hotel, as is a single father staying in a hotel room with his child. The man is receiving chemotherapy and would be at risk of succumbing to COVID-19 if exposed, McKittrick said.
The operation likely isn’t going anywhere.
McKittrick expects the need for the respite center to continue into the winter. Models have projected that Colorado will likely see a surge in infections in the fall as the weather turns cold, barring major efforts to social distance.
Until then, the city will likely lease less rooms in the hotel if hospital discharges and general COVID-19 cases continue to dip, McKittrick said.